For Release: November 13, 2003Contact: David Almasi at (202) 507-6398 x106
or [email protected]

REMARKS BY PROJECT
21 DIRECTOR DAVID ALMASI AT THE JUSTICE FOR JUDGES "RACE
AND THE NOMINATION PROCESS" PRESS CONFERENCE, U.S. CAPITOL,
WASHINGTON, D.C., NOVEMBER 13, 2003, 12:30 AM

I am here today as a representative
of Project 21, the African-American leadership network of The
National Center for Public Policy Research. Project 21 was formed
over a decade ago when it was observed that the vast numbers
of conservative African-Americans were being overlooked by the
media and misrepresented by those claiming to be the leaders
of the black community. There are many members of Project 21
on the panel here with me right now, and Project 21 member Mychal
Massie will be speaking at the 3:30 AM press conference on faith
and this judicial obstruction.

As Mr. Woodson mentioned earlier, the
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies survey of a few
years ago found the black community evenly divided between conservative,
independent and liberal political leanings. There is no black
liberal majority that you might think the way Jesse Jackson and
Al Sharpton portray the black community in the press. But I'll
go Mr. Woodson one better. A Gallup Poll that was just released
this week shows that black conservatives are actually in the
majority. Of those polled by Gallup, 30 percent identified themselves
as conservative and only 22 percent as liberal. Black conservatives
are truly the unknown emerging majority.

Project 21 members are regular folk like
you and me, and they are sick of being misrepresented and overlooked.
When it comes to the issue of judicial nominations, they are
outraged.

Over the last few weeks, I've been contacted
by many of the Project 21 membership about the inability of these
judges - black California Associate Justice Janice Rogers Brown,
in particular - to receive a fair up-or-down vote on their nominations
to the appeals courts. Project 21 member Murdock Gibbs, a musician
from Coppell, Texas, is outraged that a highly qualified black
woman is essentially the victim of liberal discrimination based
partially on her race and partially on her views. Project 21
member Michael King, an Internet consultant from the suburbs
of Atlanta, Georgia, is outraged that "The Black Commentator"
website feels no shame in posting cartoons ridiculing Justice
Brown in a manner that would be considered racist in any "white"
publication. Project 21 member Kevin Martin, a state government
employee from Baltimore, Maryland, is outraged at the treatment
of former nominee Miguel Estrada - who withdrew his nomination
after more than two-and-a-half-years of waiting and a prolonged
filibuster - and focused that outrage into putting together a
rally outside the offices of the liberal obstructionists at People
for the American Way. Project 21 member Don Scoggins from Springfield,
Virginia, a real estate entrepreneur, is so outraged he's written
letters to many of the senators debating right now to let them
know about his outrage over this ongoing judicial obstruction.

They are all outraged that the liberal
obstructionists just a short distance from us right now are holding
up fine nominees like Janice Rogers Brown, Carolyn Kuhl and Patricia
Owen in their name. They claim that they are fighting, in part,
for the views of the black liberal majority. There is no black
liberal majority. The people in this room confirm that fact.
The outrage of Project 21 members across the country confirms
that fact. And the fact that the majority of senators - and all
of you here - are willing to spend all night and all day tomorrow
fighting for these nominees shows that the American public -
black, white, Latino, Asian and otherwise - all want an end to
the obstruction and a straight up-or-down vote on each nominee.
Thank you.